red wines, laughter like water
by long time brother
Summary: klaus / caroline: Lady Caroline's organising the Winter Solstice Ball for everyone in Olympus, Lord Kol's busy painting Damon's battle armour, and Klaus, Lord of the Underworld, is invited. Lord Mikael's going to kill her, isn't he? / Greek Gods AU because Elijah's Poseidon and he brings a strong smell of fish everywhere.
1. the night sky is changing

**A/N:** I'm actually really excited about this one - it's probably gonna finish the next chapter. But I've never really tried for a Greek myth type AU before so please go gentle on me - I'M FRAGILE. Okay, let's clear things up:

Caroline - Lady of optimism. Yeah, this is a new one.

Elena and Katherine - both are twins and both are Aphrodite.

Kol - Dionysus. Come on, he drinks and parties all day.

Klaus - HADES. I get the feeling Klaus is a little out of character because I've twisted him to have a sense of humour. He had a sense of humour in Vampire Diaries, didn't he?

Mikael - Zeus. 'Nuff said.

Esther - Hera.

Elijah - Poseidon.

Rebekah - the female version of Eros. Okay, she's really hard to put a Greek goddess to.

Meredith - Artemis because Kol likes messing around with her arrows.

Damon - Ares. Hehe.

Stefan - Hephaestus. I _hope_ I spelt that right.

And Marcel's just there.

Enjoy!

.

**red wines, laughter like water**

.

_'I've had a perfectly wonderful evening—but this wasn't it.'_

**Groucho Marx**

.

**the night sky is changing**

.

.

"My lord," Marcel whispers as he pushes an envelope into his master's hands. "You have an invitation."

Now, isn't that very strange?

"Well, there's no need to whisper," Klaus, Lord of the Underworld, AKA Hades AKA Evil One AKA Self-Proclaimed Awesome Than The Rest, chuckles as he eyes the invitation. "We're all dead, here!"

Lord Klaus sits, powerful and proud, in his curling throne, with his head high; a strong sharp crown of icy thorns and hinting strongly of death presses on his bed of hair. He has resided in the Underworld Palace for centuries, seen nobody else but Marcel and has conversations with the occasional serial killer—

"So what're you in here for?"

"I'm a serial killer."

"Me, too!"

— and his sense of humour has not really improved.

"Do you think it'll explode if I touch it?" he asks Marcel who wonders if it's alright for him to laugh.

Curiosity flickers up in him and he frowns at the invitation for a minute, before taking it and holding it between his index finger and thumb—for who would invite Klaus to anything? He's been pushed out for so long it's unheard of—the invitation shimmers in his teetering grasp. It's gold and glittery—he scoffs, Olympus gods; show offs—and strains to be torn open so Klaus rolls his eyes and tears the envelope.

Instantly, the invitation screams, "YOU'VE BEEN INVITED TO THE WINTER SOLSTICE! YES, YOU, LORD KLAUS—what are you talking about, Caroline? Why'd you invite him—I'm inviting him, Elena, because I've never seen the guy; I mean, everyone's always talking about how evil he is and what if—Care, sweetie, he's not like Edward Cullen, okay? He's evil, pure evil and Lord Mikael will kill you—I'm still inviting him, Elena! And you know how much I hate that Twilight crap …Argh, this invite's been messed up, now. I'm gonna have to make another one—,"

"Looks like they sent the wrong invite."

Klaus looks amused as the invitation finishes the conversation and rips itself up automatically, shiny glitter falling to the floor. Without saying a word, a servant melts from the walls and rushes up to Klaus' feet, brushing away the glitter from the grey stone. Klaus bends his head, acknowledging the servant's presence momentarily, as Marcel moves closer.

"My lord, do I have permission to send your consent for the Winter Solstice?"

Wrapping his hand around his staff, Lord Klaus wonders—who is this Caroline, why has he never heard of her before? Perhaps she is a minor goddess, he thinks, and promptly nods, an intriguing smirk pushing at his lips.

"Tell them I accept the first invitation I've had in centuries," he tells Marcel and his eyes flicker with a dark light as he continues, "Won't it be _fun_ to see everyone again?"

.

.

Lady Caroline, goddess of optimism—no, really. Lady Katherine AKA Aphrodite actually appointed her as the goddess of _optimism_—dances in the ballroom with Lord Kol, god of baseball bats—just kidding, he's the god of wine and parties—, ruby-red laughter tumbling from her lips. The gorgeous blue gown flows around her like a softly blossoming flower as she snaps, "Kol! Hands off!"

"It's _your majesty_, Care," Kol says cheekily but stops pushing his hands down Caroline's waist. "Haven't we practiced enough, you control freak you?"

His words are tinged with a hint of mocking, enough to let Caroline know he's only teasing, as she rolls her eyes and bats at him laughingly. Soft violins and gentle harps play in a soothing melody as the two practice—the music tilts and falls into the room gorgeously, harmonious strings whispering sweetly through the air.

"The Winter Solstice ball is _tonight_, Kol," Caroline replies. "And I know it's really foreign for you, seeing as you're too irresponsible, but I organised the whole thing and I should be able to dance properly—,"

"Rather than just getting drunk and dancing on Damon's throne, like you did last time?" Kol grins at her as he suddenly grips her fingers and twirls her as the harps rise in volume.

"You were supposed to stop me and yet you danced along beside me—Damon was going to murder us both!"

"See, your problem, Care?" Kol says as she dances along with him, "is that you're too uptight. The fact that our lives were at risk was a _bonus_! And it's not as if we could really die—,"

"You had someone film me and posted it up on the Olympus website," Caroline remembers, "You're lucky I didn't actually find a way to kill you."

"You know you want me, really," Kol waggles his eyebrows suggestively as Caroline laughs at him.

"You wish, Kol!" she says, as Kol lifts her up into the air.

"So," Kol begins, "who's this surprise guest? And is she hot?"

Caroline bites into her bottom lip nervously. "Right," she gulps, "the surprise guest—I almost forgot," she lets out a nervous laugh that sounds like a satyr choking. She may have, sort of, actually neglected to tell anyone—barring Elena, whom she swore to secrecy after blackmailing her with the usual 'I know what you did with Lord Damon'—about the identity of the surprise guest.

"Caroline!" someone calls and Lady Rebekah, goddess of love—the other one—stalks in the ballroom. She's finely clad in her Winter Solstice attire already; a pure-white loose gown that streams around her, soft sheaths of silk push itself out at her waist and it's got a bateau neckline, the bodice decorated with dozens upon dozens of twinkling beads. Her blonde hair is in loose curls, swept to one shoulder and she continues, "We've been looking for you for so long—Katherine's searching for you in the market place though I bet she's gone to get those heels she was going on about and—why are you wasting your time by dancing with my good-for-nothing brother—,"

"Oh, sister, darling," Kol pretends his heart's been impaled, clutching at his chest overdramatically, "you wound me so."

"Got to go, Kol," Caroline blows him a kiss.

"Missing you already," Kol calls as she leaves the ballroom. For one second, he wonders—who is this mystery guest and why did Caroline blush so heavily when he probed her? Perhaps darling Caroline's breaking the rules—but then, in Olympus, there's really only a few rules, most of which Kol and Caroline have put into place:

**1)** No inviting Lord Klaus anywhere—courtesy of Lord Mikael.

**2)** No stealing Lady Esther's sacred cows for milk—they're not to be mixed with human Coco Pops.

**3)** No drunk dancing on Lord Damon's throne.

**4)** No filming one of Lady Katherine's slumber parties or any slumber parties—Kol's to blame for this one.

**5)** No messing with Lady Meredith's arrows—again, Kol.

**6)** No running away with Lord Stefan's journals.

You know, the usual—_wait a minute_.

Kol frowns.

Hmm.

Caroline wouldn't—no, she can't—but then, it's Caroline—so maybe—

She wouldn't really invite Lord Klaus of the Underworld to the Winter Solstice Ball, now, would she? It is Caroline, he supposes; she's a bit of a rebel and she'd do anything for cookies. But breaking Lord _Mikael's_ rules?

Everyone's terrified of him.

She wouldn't dare.

Or maybe she would.

"Caro_liiiine_!"

.

.

The Winter Solstice Ball is magnificent.

Dozens of gods and goddesses enter through the huge gaping arched doors, where the pale winter theme flows on—the ballroom is draped entirely in white, icy balloons courtesy of Lord Stefan, god of machinery, float around the room, sprinkling soft delicate flecks of snow and there's a fancy band at the corner, striking up the old harps and violins once again. Gentle notes tinkle into the room and almost immediately, the guests begin to waltz—ballgowns lavishly decorated with laces, pearls drift about the room mesmerisingly and the room is lit with a rather pure sort of light that flows around with Lady Caroline who swishes around frantically—

"Come on, come on—people need _food_!" she snaps at the passing waiters who are all too used to this and don't even try to stop her when she gulps down a glass of glistening nectar followed swiftly by a glass of red wine.

"Where the hell is Elijah?" she demands—the god of the sea is the guest of honour and she's taken the time to reserve him a special seat and if he doesn't get down here in five seconds—

"This is the _Winter Solstice Ball_," she clicks her fingers at the band, "not a funeral! Pick up the tempo, damn it!"

—and despite her panic, she's done a fantastic job.

Lady Katherine, goddess of love, whooshes into the ball, ever the overdramatic one, with her gorgeous gown streaming out around and she practically glows effortlessly but that may be just the body glow Rebekah lent her. Caroline rolls her eyes as the eyes of the male population in the room follow her and then groan simultaneously when Katherine proceeds to kiss Stefan senseless. Lord Elijah follows after, bringing a very strong smell of fish with him, and Caroline follows him quickly, spraying her favourite _Hope_ perfume after him, smiling innocently when he frowns at the sounds curiously.

Lord Mikael sits on his throne proudly, as Lady Esther traces designs onto the arm of her chair idly, and congratulates Caroline. "You've done a beautiful job, Caroline," he says, smiling at her.

"How would you feel about organising the Summer Solstice as well?" Esther offers and Caroline is about to nod and do her happy dance when—

"It was a _hypothetical_ suggestion, Damon! I haven't _actually_ doodled rainbows and fairies all over your battle armour!"

Caroline freezes. Uh oh. She quickly pastes a smile on her face. "Excuse me a moment, your majesties," she says before turning around in one blonde furious twirl, ready to do some damage control, "KOL!"

Mikael and Esther chuckle before turning to each other and frowning, as Caroline huffs away, trying to find their devious son. Mikael gets up off his seat. "Lady Esther," he begins, "would you like to dance?"

"What about that Ayanna nymph—don't you want to dance with _her_?" Lady Esther spits angrily. "What happened to her?"

"You turned her into a bull, my dear."

Already, Lord Damon, the god of war, is getting into an argument with Kol and Caroline can see him not-so-discreetly sharpening his sword so she twirls, hissing, "Elena! Code Red! Code Red!"

Lady Elena—she's another goddess of love because they're twins—launches into action almost immediately, smiling seductively as she pushes herself into Damon's arms and bats at Kol to get away. "Hey, you…"

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?" Caroline yanks at Kol's arm.

"Ahh, there you are!" Kol says brightly. "I tried to find you but the wine was calling me and when will everyone else realise that the mortals actually have a wider choice of alcohols? Have you guys ever heard of a vodka and tonic?"

Caroline blinks at him and rolls her eyes. "Kol—,"

"And the mystery guest!" Kol smiles. "I know who it is."

Her smiles falls fast. "Kol—,"

Before she can say anything, the doors to the Winter Solstice Ball crash wide open, the ball goes completely silent for there he is. Devilishly handsome in a sharp suit and with a smirk that says he knows it, Lord Klaus of the Underworld smiles—

"Did you miss me?"

Lord Mikael drops his glass of wine.

Rebekah gapes. Elijah stares. Kol wonders—white wine or red for the show that's inevitably about to go down?

Caroline tries for a smile. "Welcome back, Lord Klaus?"

.

.

**to be continued**


	2. to let the daylight seep in

**A/N:** I'm really unsure about this one. It's finished and all but I still get the feeling it's a little lacking.

Oh well, I hope you all enjoy it.

If it's confusing, please PM me - stay AWESOME.

**to let the daylight seep in**

.

.

"So you're the tasty—uh, _pretty_ little thing called Caroline," Klaus tilts his head and bows extravagantly, taking Caroline's hand and pressing his lips to it. "I'm finally honoured to grace you all with my presence."

He eyes the blushing blonde wonderingly. She's absolutely _glorious_—dressed in a beautiful white gown; stunning enough to rival the two Aphrodites in the room, and her sunlight hair is pushed up into a soft romantic bun, small tendrils of glistening gold falling out about her face.

Klaus can hardly take his eyes off her.

"Boy," Lord Mikael snarls as soon as he manages to find his voice, "you are not welcome here."

"Oh, come on, Father," Klaus spreads his arms jovially. "Just one itty bitty hour? I _am_ the guest of honour, after all…"

"CAROLINE!"

Mikael's roar echoes throughout the ballroom threateningly and Caroline screws up her face, bites into her lip—"I need to go the bathroom!" she squeaks desperately as Mikael begins to walk down from his throne and turns but Mikael's speaking.

"Please, Caroline," Mikael begins and he's more calm now as he gets closer to Caroline, "tell me you did not invite my bastard of a son—,"

"I'm your _son_, now?" Klaus interrupts and continues in a faux American voice, "Gee, thanks Dad!"

Kol snorts into his glass and Caroline edges closer to him. Mikael heaves a sigh. "Caroline," he begins, "you cannot hide behind my drunkard of a son. If I had my thunderbolt…"

"What would you do, father?" Klaus asks. "I'm allowed to be here, am I not? It's the rules—the Lord of the Underworld is allowed to feast with the common ones on the Winter Solstice."

"Not when the Lord of the Underworld is you."

The atmosphere crackles with unresolved tension and every god and goddess seem to hold their breaths as Klaus' face darkens considerably. His hands ball into fists and suddenly the ball goes just that bit darker, the balloons become icier and everybody begins to shiver. Darkness starts to revel and the stale stench of death hangs in the air as Klaus begins to laugh.

"What did I _ever_ do to you, father?" he asks bitterly as a slight beating of something begins to curl in the air. "All I ever did was try to gain your love, your approval. All I ever wanted was my _father_ acknowledging—,"

"I am not your father!" Mikael suddenly roars and everybody gapes.

Someone whispers, "This is better than The Katherine Pierce Show," and Katherine, twisting in Stefan's lap, shoots them a dirty look.

"That—that's not possible," Klaus frowns and in that instant, Caroline sees a vulnerable little boy, 'you—,"

"He's right, Niklaus," Esther whispers from her throne and she descends far more gracefully. "You are my son but you're not his."

"That's why Nik's forbidden to step into Mount Olympus?" Rebekah demands as she moves. "I haven't seen my brother for centuries because—,"

"He's not your brother," Mikael snarls. "Come back here, Rebekah."

"Yes, he is," she shoots back and swishes her way to Klaus' side. "I've stood by your side, Father, for so long because I thought you were always right. But why would I stay by you any longer when you're so obviously wrong?"

Elijah stands up and instantly, the smell of raw fish swoops through the ballroom—Elena gags, Katherine tries not to heave, Caroline brings out her perfume, Kol almost chokes on his glass—the god of the sea frowns. He flickers his eyes around, wondering why everyone's holding their nose and shrugs—_must be Kol_. "Brother," he begins. "I am sorry. I should have probed further into this and—,"

"How about I promise not to tell anyone about the time when you wore the wrong tie with a suit and we'll call it quits?" Klaus offers.

So Klaus is allowed to stay.

Elijah tries to persuade everyone that he's never worn the wrong tie with a suit.

Mikael stews away on his throne.

Esther feels awkward.

Caroline squirts _Hope_ perfume around the ballroom like a maniac.

.

.

She twirls around with her friends and his younger brother, laughter like water as the red wine pours freely. The lilting violins pick up in tempo as Kol rolls his eyes, clicks his fingers and instantly, The Top Forty Charts begins blaring out of the violins. The band is startled as trashy pop music takes control of their instruments, floating in the air and singing loudly—the gods and goddesses who consider themselves more 'cool' begin dancing around to the music.

Klaus flirts with a nymph right in front of Mikael's throne. "You look good enough to eat," he smiles and the nymph blushes prettily—he can't help but compare her to the blonde dancing in the middle of the ballroom—as she stumbles over her words.

Rolling his eyes, Mikael pursues his lips. He must be mature and he's forbidden by his children—his children!—to lay a finger or a thunderbolt on that bastard boy. Esther taps at her throne impatiently with her fingers and her awkwardness has completely vanished—Rebekah entices her away with a dance.

Continuing with the compliments, Klaus makes the young nymph blush harder and harder until she almost spills her drink over herself. Mikael glowers.

"He's got herpes," he tells the nymph gruffly and watches with satisfaction as the nymph runs faster than Kol confronted with Damon's battle armour.

.

.

"Are you having fun?" Caroline asks when she finally sees Klaus and sits down at his table.

"The most I've had in centuries, love," Klaus replies with a smile as he downs another glass of wine. "You got anything stronger than wine?"

"IT'S NOT JUST MEEEEEE!" Kol yells as he throws himself over the table.

Caroline rolls her eyes. "Kol, you're drunk."

"Nooooooo!" Kol shakes his head, grabs Klaus' drink and downs it. "LET'S PARTYYYY!"

He runs into a gaggle of nymphs who begin squealing as Caroline laughs. She spies Mikael frowning at them and sighs. "You guys really need to sort out your problems," she says to Klaus who knows exactly who she's talking about.

"You know, love, I'd rather stay here with you than have a heart-to-heart with my not-father," Klaus says, "You look ravishing, by the way. If it isn't obvious."

A slight tinge of pink touches at her cheeks but Caroline shakes her head. "Don't change the subject," she scolds, "we need to…"

She trails away and then suddenly looks excited. "You guys—this is what you need to do! You need to talk this out! WE NEED A TALKING STICK!"

.

.

"I still don't see why we couldn't use Daddy's thunderbolt?" Klaus says as Mikael shoots him a glare.

"You do not get to call me—,"

"The last time you had Father's thunderbolt," Elijah interrupts quickly and Caroline spritzes, "you created a hurricane the mortals called Katrina. Caroline, I must ask—why do you keep spraying your perfume? Kol is not here."

Caroline looks uncomfortable.

"DID YOU MISS MEEEE?" Kol yells as he launches himself off his own throne and into the middle of the ballroom. He stops right before he smacks into the floor, using magic to float, and Caroline tugs at him, rolling her eyes, to his feet.

The ball's over by now and there's only a few gods and goddesses drifting about the room, the violins are playing half-heartedly, refusing to get into the cases. The ice balloons glide with the breeze as Klaus and Mikael sit on the floor, cross-legged, as per Caroline's orders. They are a good enough distance away that none can throw thunderbolts or threats of death and Elijah's here to help act as peacemaker—Caroline makes a mental note to buy some more perfume.

"Kol, you're drunk and you need to go to bed," she tells him but a call from Katherine stops her from continuing.

"CAROL-_IIIINE_!"

"What?" Caroline turns to find Katherine, Damon, Stefan, Elena, Rebekah and Meredith perched on the long table at the top where they usually reside.

There's a big box of buttered popcorn and a few bottles of wine—stolen from the kitchens, probably—on Katherine's lap as she lazily flicks popcorn into Stefan's mouth. They're all sat, curling up against each other as if waiting to watch a movie—it's only Meredith who stays as far away from the boys as possible because she takes her vow of chastity very seriously.

"We need more popcorn," Katherine smiles sheepishly as her twin tugs at the now-empty box.

"I actually have an Underworld to run," Klaus begins to get up from the floor.

"Oh, yes," Mikael sneers, "do leave—your presence is—,"

"NO!" Caroline shakes her head.

She points at Klaus. "SIT!"

Klaus sits.

She points at Mikael. "STOP BEING MEAN!"

Mikael simmers.

She points at Katherine. "GET YOUR OWN POPCORN!"

Katherine thrusts the box at Elena. "Get me popcorn."

She points at Kol. "GO TO BED!"

Kol blinks. "Whaat?"

And the god of wine is sober once again. One of the benefits of being the god of wine—no hangovers and you're sober in a couple of hours to drink yourself senseless again. Kol grins. "What are we doing?"

Caroline bats a hand at him, holds one of Stefan's journals—Stefan recognises it and begins to protest; Katherine shushes him, "This is the best part!"— and says, "Okay. Whoever's holding Stefan's—uh, this totally empty journal will be allowed to speak. That's it. Got it, both of you?"

Klaus and Mikael nod.

Elijah flips a drachma and Klaus gets the journal. He flicks through it curiously and comments, "Your extensive use of the English language is invigorating—Stef, have you ever thought about writing a novel?"

"You know, I actually have, come to think of it," Stefan begins in an excited tone.

Caroline glares at him. "No, Stefan," she says and to Klaus, she scowls. "Talk. Now."

.

.

"Nobody can say you didn't try, love," Klaus says with a smile as he tugs on his jacket and brushes off a bit of dust. He runs a hand through his hair, takes out a bit of brick and drops it.

Caroline's Talking Stefan's Journal plan had sort of failed.

Caroline glowers. "But you guys were supposed to talk properly and figure out your feelings and everyone was supposed to be happy and you were supposed to be invited for the Summer Solstice!"

To be fair, Klaus _had_ tried. He'd talked a little bit about his feelings—"I've always looked up to you as a father,"—while Elena whispered to Rebekah about how sweet and adorable it all was.

And then Kol went and tripped over a non-existent brick—"I SWEAR THERE'S A BRICK, CAROLINE!"—and the spark was lit.

Everything that had gone wrong, _did_.

Thunderbolts had crashed around the ballroom, Klaus went invisible and destroyed Mikael's throne. Katherine got a bit of dust on her dress and went mental. Kol was found trying to steal Meredith's bow and arrow to play Cupid with the nymphs. Mikael tried to kill Klaus. Klaus tried to kill Mikael.

It only really stopped when Elijah threw seawater over them all—there were a few fish in there, somewhere. So the ballroom's now crumbling, in some serious need of repair and sopping wet.

"Not everything ends up happy ever after, Caroline," Klaus tells her. "Have you seen Esther's hair?"

She giggles for a second but then frowns. "But doesn't this mean you won't get to come back to Olympus?" she asks. "What if you become even more depressed?"

"I don't think that'll be a problem, Caroline." Klaus puts a foot into his carriage and hesitates. "You know, love—there's one thing I forgot to do."

"What's that?"

"This."

He's not actually aware of himself pressing his lips onto hers. It just sort of—_happens_. And she's kissing him right back and there are sparks colliding with each other and all he feels is _herherher_ and it's beautiful; she's beautiful. She tastes _exquisite_, like sweet honey and laughter like water and red wine all at once and smells mesmerising—her hand twists into his hair as he holds her ever tighter.

When he pulls away, Caroline protests rather breathlessly. "Klaus, what if you never come back—,"

"There's always the Summer Solstice Ball, right?" Klaus winks at her. "I heard a certain blonde was going to organise that."

The carriage shimmers to life as Klaus zooms away and Caroline slowly begins to smile.

"I'll be waiting for my invitation, Caroline!"

.

.

**fin**


End file.
